A Rant Concerning the Not-So-Super Bowl

First, this was a phenomenally boring game. No game with a flee flicker touchdown pass and a long interception return could have been less exciting start to finish.

All week I heard about how Ben Roethlisberger was the next great NFL quarterback ("Good as Brady?" was an ESPN topic). He was lousy.

For two full weeks every sports media outlet forced me to marinate in heartwarming Jerome Bettis stories. He was inconsequential. And didn't deflect enough praise after the game. I kept waiting for him to say something to the effect of "It's great to finally win a Super Bowl, and to do it here at home in Detroit--but this game isn't just about me..." Instead the post-game interchanges went more like this:

Fawning Reporter: Jerome, you're the most amazing guy EVER!
Bettis: Yeah, yeah; I know what you mean. And I'll tell you--it's great man.

Secondly, BAD halftime show. In the post-Janet's breast era we've now seen Super Bowl halftime shows performed by Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones. Next year the league said it is willing to consider bands that are from America or peaked after the mid 1960's--but don't expect both.

Does anyone else remember when the halftime show was a bigger than life event? I mean it was never a good musical performance, but I remember one recent year where they had N'Sync, then Aerosmith, then Britney Spears, and then Nelly--all one act, one stage! Now we get a bland 3-song set from a single band fronted by a 60 year-old with a bare midriff?

Thumbs down.

(the bottom of this article lists each year's Super Bowl halftime act--my two favorites:
XXV - Jan. 27, 1991 - New Kids on the Block
XXVII - Jan. 31, 1993 - Michael Jackson and 3,500 local children)

Third, and most important, the referees were TERRIBLE. I mean awful. I've never seen worse in an important football game. Just unbelievable.

Pittsburgh's Joey Porter made waves when he accused the officials of cheating for the Colts because the league wanted Peyton Manning to win. Well if the league was originally pulling for Peyton, lord almighty did they throw their support to Jerome Bettis. I think reporters wrote their post-game piece about his feel-good sendoff win days before the game and just started partying in Detroit.

Perhaps it's just coincidence but there were 4 or 5 game turning calls and all went against the Seahawks and all were either blatantly or probably wrong. Briefly:

1. Darrel Jackson scored the game's first touchdown, but the play was called back for a phantom pushoff. If you've played football and you're not from Pittsburgh you know that was a normal play. Much more physical pushes happen every other down between receivers and DBs. A joke of a call, and the Seahawks had to settle for a field goal. That put them up 3-0.

2. Ben Roethlisberger got to the goal line on a pivotal 3rd down play near Seattle's goal. The linesman initially called the play down at the 2 inch mark--he then was overruled and changed his mind. Touchdown. Replays did not show the ball crossing the line, but neither did they show clear evidence that it did not. Touchdown stands; scraggly pre-anointed golden boy raises his arms on the sideline. 7-3 Pittsburgh.

(I'm willing to buy this one only b/c the call on the field creates a presumption and it was not completely clear they were wrong--though the probably were, and the game should have gone to 3-3. )

3. The Seahawks throw a beautiful pass down to the Pittsburgh 1-yard line to complete a great rally and setup the touchdown that will give them a 17-14 lead... But wait! What's this? The officials call holding. Replay will later show...nothing of the sort. Just normal blocking. Maybe they got the wrong guy?

I played offensive line for 5 years and got called for holding plenty of times--that was not holding. I'd venture to say that if you focus on the offensive tackles on any NFL play you'll probably see something much closer to holding than what you'll see in that absurd call that killed Seattle. The blocking there was more legal than average for an NFL play. No matter to Team Bettis in the stripes. Touchdown averted. A sack and a missed field goal later the Hawks have NOTHING. Pittsburgh still up 14-10.

4. Matt Hasselback throws an interception and makes a shockingly decent tackle on the ball carrier. What happens next defies the bad officiating imagination--this one requires creativity.

The officials decide to call a 15-yard penalty on Hasselback for an illegal block on the guy standing next to the guy he tackled. Two problems. 1) It was a tackle, not a block. 2) He never touched the guy he illegally "blocked." Beyond weird.

15 yard closer to the endzone the Steelers quickly drove the nail into the coffin with a nifty reverse pass for a touchdown. Pittsburgh 21 - Seattle 10. That's your final, folks.

Seattle whined a bit in the aftermath of this game, but you know what? They should have. They deserved much better in a game that will determine their legacies in their chosen profession. That game should have been a Seattle win or gone down to the wire. Instead we got the sleepy Bettis fest.

Count me unenthused.